Blackmore’s Night – Here We Go a Caroling

Since it’s now a good twenty years plus since since Ritchie Blackmore and his wife Candice Night formed Blackmore’s Night and they are now more than ten albums down the folk rock road, it’s pretty clear that it is now their true love and main preoccupation. Despite rumours that he might collaborate with David Coverdale on the Whitesnake Purple album, the guitar maestro decided against getting back involved with any new hard rock projects pretty much since Rainbow. So, unless you’ve been hiding under a different kind of metaphorical rock, you will have guessed this record will be traditional English style of a gentler kind. If there is a time, however, when historical music is listened to by all and sundry it’s undoubtedly Christmas and, as such, the appeal of this record is indeed mainstream. This seasonal ep consists of four reinterpretations of classic Christmas carols.

The origins of ‘Here We Come A-Caroling’ are lost in the midst of time, but it was a song sung from house to house by ‘wassailers’ itinerant singers offering a festive drink from a ‘wassail’ bowl in exchange for gifts, now replaced by Carol singing. Blackmore’s Night’s version is given the air of an ancient song by the atmospheric folk-style timbre of Candice’s vocals which are strikingly pure and clear. Accompanied by wind instruments to start with it’s pared back and there’s only a hint of acoustic playing before it gets going with full orchestral gusto and goodwill. It’s one of the catchiest traditional songs I have heard and it’s hard not to keep singing it once heard, even if for the first time.

‘It Came Upon A Midnight Clear’ is, in fact, a comparatively recent mid 19^th Century American composition written by a pastor from Massachusetts. It is also given the medieval treatment though, with recorder and acoustic playing.

‘O Little Town of Bethlehem’, based on a poem written by a priest from Boston again in the 19^th Century, is set to the tune most familiar to those in the U.K. rather than the one used most commonly over the Atlantic. It sounds to me as though the main instruments are lute and harpsichord giving it a Tudor sound with the use of plenty of tambourine keeping a rustic feel.

‘Silent Night’ originally an early 19^th Century Austrian composition translated into English mid nineteenth century by a priest In New York also has relatively recent origins. This version starts with a nice clear acapella section and while there’s a hint of harpsichord it’s mostly acoustically accompanied with a mischievous instrumental refrain from ‘Jingle Bells’ at the end.

If you haven’t got it already and if you’re stuck on thinking of Ritchie circa 1973 this is not aimed at you. It’s a classy Christmas Carol record with some lovely vocals and tender heartfelt playing. Listening to it you could almost forget what a terrible year 2020 has been and take a longer look at the history of the human race. Plagues come and go, but the human spirit remains.

Dawn Osborne